Anabolic Steroids

Are Athletes Looking Good and Doing Better With Anabolic Steroids?

Everyone loves a winner, and top athletes are popular and make a lots of money. It is not surprising that some will grasp at anything to increase their performance - including anabolic steroids. these hormones engineered by pharmaceutical companies, were introduced in the 1950s to treat victims of certain muscle-wasting diseases, anemia and to prevent muscle atrophy in patients immobilized after surgery. Testosterone, a natural anabolic steroid hormone made by the body, triggers the increase in muscle and bone mass and other physical changes that occur during puberty and convert boys into men. Convinced that the large dose of the anabolic steroids could enhance masculinizing effects in grown men, many athletes were using the steroids by the early 1960s, and the practice is still going strong today. Indeed it is estimated that one out of ten young men has tried steroids, so use is no longer confined to athletes looking for the edge.



The use of this drug has been banned by most international athletic competitions, and users (and prescribing physicians or drug dealers) are naturally reluctant to talk about it. Nonetheless, there is a little question that many professional bodybuilders and athletes competing in events that require great muscle strength (such as discuss throwing and weight lifting) are heavy users. Sports figures such as football players have also admitted to using steroids to help them prepare for games. Advantages of anabolic steroids cited bu athletes include increase muscle mass and strength, increased oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood (because of greater red blood cell volume), and an increase in aggressive behavior (the urge to "steamroller the other guy").

But do the drug do it all that is claimed from them? Research studies have reported increased in isometric strength and body weight in steroid users. Although these are the results weight lifters dream about, there is a hot dispute over whether the drug also enhance the fine muscle coordination and endurance needed by runners and others.

Do the claim slight advantage conferred by steroid use out weight he risk? Absolutely not! Physician say they cause bloated faces (a sign of steroid excess), shriveled tastes, and infertility; damage the liver and promote liver cancer; and cause changes in blood cholesterol level ( which may place long term use at risk for coronary heart disease). Additionally, out one-third of anabolic steroid users develop serious psychiatric problems. many behaviors in which the user undergo Jekyll-Hyde personality swing and become extremely violent (the so-called 'roid rage) is common; so, too, are depression and delusions.

A recent arrival on the scene, sold over the counter as a "nutritional performance enhancer", is adrostenedione which is converted to testosterone in the body. It is taken orally and much of it is destroyed by the liver soon after ingestion, but the few milligrams that survive temporarily boost testosterone levels. "wannabe" athletes from the fifth grade up are said to be sweeping the supplement off the drugstore shelves. This is troubling; adrostenedione is not regulated the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and its long term effects are unpredictable. Ongoing studies have found that makes who took the supplement developed elevated levels of the female hormone estrogen as well as testosterone (raising their risk of feminizing effects such as enlarged breasts), early puberty and stunted bone growth.

The question of why athletes use these drugs is easy to answer. Some say they are willing to
do almost anything to win, short of killing themselves. Are they unwittingly doing this as well?